Momentum Distillery sits in downtown Wilmington, North Carolina at 506 Compton Street, operating as the Cape Fear region’s craft vodka specialist. Founded by entrepreneur Michael Cuomo, the distillery opened its doors in 2014 with a focus on creating premium vodka using North Carolina-grown sweet potatoes as their signature base ingredient. The operation runs out of a converted warehouse space in Wilmington’s historic downtown district, where Cuomo and his small team produce their flagship NC Vodka brand along with seasonal flavored variations. Cuomo’s journey into distilling started after years in the business world, where he saw an opportunity to create something uniquely North Carolina while tapping into the state’s agricultural heritage. The decision to use sweet potatoes wasn’t just about local sourcing—it was about creating a smoother, naturally sweeter vodka that would stand apart from traditional grain-based spirits. The team uses a copper pot still system and employs multiple distillations to achieve their desired clean profile, with each batch personally overseen to maintain consistency. The distillery maintains a relatively intimate scale, focusing on quality control and direct relationships with visitors rather than mass production. You’ll find a tasting room where you can sample their core vodka alongside seasonal offerings like their popular sweet tea vodka. The space feels more like a working distillery than a polished tourist destination, which gives you a genuine look at small-batch spirit production in action.